To compensate for its refusal to grant parliamentary democracy, the monarchy took steps to give representatives of society a greater voice in the administration. Such moves were inspired mainly by the realization that the shortages of war matériel could not be rectified without the help of the private sector. But there was also the hope that such concessions would deflect demands for political reform.
At a conference at headquarters in July 1915, General Alekseev listed in order of descending importance the shortages responsible for the Russian reverses: (1) artillery shells, (2) troop replacements, (3) heavy artillery, (4) rifles and rifle ammunition, and (5) officers. Deficiencies in manpower were the responsibility of the military. But the shortages of weapons and ammunition required expanding the base of war production to involve private industry; and this, in turn, called for the cooperation of the business community. Involving representatives of the legislature in defense production, while not essential, was considered politically prudent.
The idea of establishing joint boards of government officials, private entrepreneurs, and Duma deputies to deal with military shortages emerged at informal meetings of businessmen and political figures in Moscow and Petrograd in early May. Rodzianko, one of its most enthusiastic advocates, traveled to Army Headquarters to discuss it with Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich. The latter readily agreed and recommended it to the Tsar, who went along as well.101 Such was the origin of the Special Council for the Coordination of Measures to Ensure the Supply of Artillery to the Active Army. Sukhomlinov, then still Minister of War, viewed with misgivings the intrusion of non-official persons into affairs that, in his opinion, were none of their business, but he was given no choice and assumed the council’s chairmanship. This organization made it possible dramatically to increase the production of artillery shells in 1915. Its success led to the creation later in the year of other Special Councils.
In July, the cabinet agreed to introduce a mixed government-private board, modeled on the recently established British Ministry of Munitions, to mobilize the nation’s industrial economy for war, to be called the Special Council of Defense of the Country (Osoboe Soveshchanie po Oborone Strany). Nicholas approved this resolution and in August it was submitted to the two chambers of the legislature. The Duma majority enthusiastically welcomed it, even if the socialist spokesmen, Kerensky and Chkheidze, argued against the proposal for not going far enough.102 The Special Council promised to improve war production, but it also, and no less importantly, gave the Duma an opportunity to involve itself in the political process. To enhance its role further, the Duma recommended that three more Special Councils be established to deal with transport, food, and fuel.103 Since each council was to have representation from the two legislative chambers, more councils meant that more deputies would participate in the war effort. The four Special Councils came into being at the end of August.
Of these, far and away the most important was the Defense Council. As with the other Special Councils, it was chaired by a minister, in this case the Minister of War, Polivanov. It consisted of 36–40 members, the majority private persons, including ten deputies each from the Duma and the State Council, four representatives of the Central Military-Industrial Committee (see below), and two from
